


Internship

by Blue Eyes Black Dragon (OperaGoose)



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Interns & Internships, Workplace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-30
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-09-03 07:43:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8703598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OperaGoose/pseuds/Blue%20Eyes%20Black%20Dragon
Summary: Joey Wheeler needs a job. And he needs one now. Luckily Mokuba gave him a phone number years ago in case he ever needed anything. And he needs something now.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pharaoh_Ink](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pharaoh_Ink/gifts).



_‘Pound the pavement,_ ’ they said. ‘ _Go put yourself out there. Follow up. Get a job._ ’ So much for that. 

Attempting to ‘make it’ as a professional duellist hadn’t gone well. Effect cards were the new flavour of the game—and his deck couldn’t stand up to it. His name didn’t carry as much weight as Yugi’s or Weevil’s or Rex’s. Not enough to earn a sponsorship so he could get new cards. 

So he’d spent the last of his Duellist Kingdom prize money to get to New York to enter the big international tournament, make enough name for himself to get someone’s attention. He hadn’t even made it to the semi-finals. 

He’d cleared out of the hotel, and crashed on Tea’s couch. Her roommates were a couple of other ballerinas at her dance school—and in that last week their patience had run out. Tea had been sticking up for him, but he knew his time was up. 

So determination had not helped him get a job. It was time to try another method. 

“ _It’s not about what you can do_ ,” one of Tea’s roommates said, as she artfully painted deep red lipstick on her full lips in the hallway mirror, “ _it’s about who you know_.” 

Well, who did Joey Wheeler know? 

Duke Devlin was right out of the picture—if Joey went to him, he’d end up handing out flyers in a dog suit just because the dice master thought it would be **funny**. 

Kaiba Corp was the next thing that came to mind. Now the elder Kaiba brother would more than likely laugh in his face. But Mokuba liked him enough he’d probably get him something. 

It was decided then. 

He still had Mokuba’s number, given to him in a parting shot when things were still hectic— “ _call if you need anything!_ ” 

Well. He needed something now. 

The number was saved in his phone—and his knees jumped in nervousness as he listened to the line ring. 

The voice that answered was not what he had expected. It was low, gravelly, and the single word greeting was filled with infuriated impatience. “Kaiba.” 

He froze. “Mokuba?” 

“No, this is my personal number.” 

“Oh. Sorry. I meant to call Mokuba.” One hand rose to rub the back of his hair awkwardly. “It’s Joey, by the way,” he added quickly. 

“I know,” the other guy snapped. “I’d recognise _your_ voice anywhere, Wheeler.” 

“Oh.” Kaiba was such a jerk. 

“What do you **want** , Wheeler?” 

“I thought I was calling Mokuba,” he replied. 

“ **Why**?” Kaiba stressed, impatient. 

“Well I don’t want to ask _you_!” he argued, his temper flaring to meet the other’s. 

There was an odd pause, just a moment too long. “Are you in some sort of financial trouble?” The tone of voice was guarded. 

“No!” he said immediately, offended. But then he paused, deflating. “I mean. Not yet…” He sighed. “I was going to ask if he could help me get a job.” 

Another pause followed. “Are you still in New York?” 

“Uh…” How had he known that? “Yeah.” 

“Come to the Waldorf-Astoria before 6pm,” the gruff voice commanded. “I’ll leave word for you at the front desk. Try not to dress too embarrassing.” 

“Uh… okay,” he said, surprised. “I’ll be there.” 

“Before six,” Kaiba repeated, then hung up the phone. 

Joey was too startled to move for a few minutes. Not entirely sure what would happen that evening. But then he had to get up, find the iron and his best shirt. 

The ornate clock in the lobby said 5:10 by the time he arrived. The receptionists, in their neat blue and white uniforms, gave him judgemental looks as he approached the front desk. When he mentioned who he was here to see, their expressions changed. They checked his I.D., and cross-referenced him with a picture they had been provided with—he tried to stay patient. 

By the time they had apparently decided he was himself, the clock donged for five-thirty. They gave him a temporary keycard and directed him towards a set of elevators. 

He finally reached the right set of doors, and knocked firmly. He paused, and then let himself in anyway. “Kaiba?” He called, closing the door behind him. “It’s me.” 

The room was unnecessarily fancy. A crystal chandelier hung above a coffee table, flanked on one side by a low chaise, and two armchair-things on the other. The whole room, to Joey’s complete lack of surprise, was decorated in white and blue. 

“You’re cutting it a bit close, aren’t you?” Out from a set of gold-decorated double doors emerged Seto Kaiba in a tuxedo. The suit was tailored well, across broad shoulders and in an elegant line down to his slender hips. At his collar, however, his hands were busy trying to knot a shiny black bowtie. 

“The receptionists gave me a hard time. I meant to be here twenty minutes ago.” 

Kaiba only answered him with an irritated grunt. His hands gave a rough tug to undo the mess of his knot and dropped down to his sides. 

“Uh… do you need a—?” He gestured at the bowtie to say what he meant. 

“Do you know _how_?” It sounded like a challenge. 

Joey crossed over and took up the two ends. Left over the right; then under and up through the neckloop; fold the right into the bow shape; left back down over the bow; fold left towards the chest, pinch; push the left pinch through the loop at the back; and then tugging until it was even. 

He nodded with satisfaction and stepped back. “You going somewhere fancy then?” 

“Charity ball,” Kaiba replied, looking down at him with a blank expression. 

“Orphans?” Jou guessed. The room seemed overheated—he stepped back and moved to sit in one of the chairs. 

“Homeless youths,” Kaiba corrected, moving to the chaise. “Did you bring me a resumé?” 

“Huh? Oh! Yeah.” He fumbled to get it out of his messenger bag and hand it over to Kaiba. 

“Well. This isn’t particularly impressive,” Kaiba said derisively. “No work experience, high school details from three years ago, no mention of useful job skills, two character references—Solomon Moto, really?” 

Joey’s face flushed in embarrassment and frustration. “I did my best, okay!” 

Kaiba just grunted and tucked the resumé in the inner pocket of his tuxedo jacket. “I’ve spoken to Mokuba. The Kaiba Corp jet will be returning to Domino City on Monday morning. You may be on it, or make your own way. Internship Orientation starts at 11am. A place has been reserved for you.” 

Joey watched him during this speech, statled. “Oh. I mean… wow. I’d be honoured. But—” 

“But?” Kaiba repeated, outraged. 

“I can’t afford to take an internship, Kaiba. I need something that pays.” 

The CEO scoffed, glaring at him. “Kaiba Corp agrees that unpaid internships are unethical. You will be paid a fair living wage.” 

“Then I accept!” Joey said hurriedly, eager. “I’ll be on the plane Monday!” 

Kaiba gave him an unreadable look. “I’ll have someone email you the itinerary.” 

~*~ 

Kaiba Corp had napping pods. And a slide from the research floors. And a gourmet cafeteria. And holographic dragons exploring the lobby. And a rock climbing wall, which was significantly less impressive than the holographic dragons, but was more bizarre. He would _expect_ holographic dragons in the headquarters—even the fact that one landed in front of him and roared intimidatingly in his face was expected. 

Another intern in the group scoffed impatiently, and stepped aside. He walked around Joey, directly towards the dragon to walk through it. “It’s just a hologram,” he scoffed at the blond. If he was going to say something in addition, it got cut off when he walked straight into the dragon’s chest. 

“Kaiba Corp’s famous _Solid Vision_ ,” Joey commented, walking around the dragon. “Not just a name.” The dragon moved its tail to try and trip him, but he got away with just a stumble. 

The dragon loomed over him as the internship director greeted them, and making an opening speech. Some of the other interns shot the duel monster nervous looks but Joey—who’d seen and faced the white dragon in battle numerous times—just did his best to ignore the situation. 

“Sir,” the same intern who had walked into the dragon ventured, during a break for questions. “Can you stop it from doing that?” He pressed, pointing up at the Blue Eyes. 

“Ah,” the director said, looking up at the dragon with a fond exasperation. “That’s one of the Blue Eyes White Dragons holograms, in Kaiba’s Solid Vision. There’s three in the building, though one is mostly found in the executive offices. The other two can usually be found in the lobby.” He nodded towards the hologram, still flaring its wings and being intimidating. “The hologram is running the standard offensive animation sequence that would normally run when facing an opponent.” 

“How does it know?” Joey asked, blinking in confusion. 

“The lobby is set up like a holographic arena. The sensors will pick up any data information, route them through the database and adjust the animation sequences accordingly,” the director explained. “I don’t suppose any of you brought Duel Monsters cards today, did you?” 

Joey shifted guiltily, and reached into his pocket to get the box containing his treasured deck. 

The director smiled, amused. “We’ve found our culprit.” 

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Is there anyway I can like… turn that off?” 

“As long as you have your deck on you, it will trigger the same settings. But don’t worry, only the lobby and some of the offices have the arena technology set up. Let’s continue on, shall we?” 

Sheepish, Joey tucked the deck box back into his pocket. 

They were shown around the offices as the internship process was explained. For the first six weeks of the internship, their time would be divided evenly between all of the departments after which they would be encouraged to choose one or two departments to spend the remaining six weeks of their internship. 

Joey’s first day was in the mailroom, helping the staff sort an unimaginable number of letters into trolleys to be delivered. It was easy going, they were allowed to talk as much as they liked as long as the letters were going in the right places in a timely manner. 

It was not how he’d expected his first day at Kaiba Corp to go. 

~*~ 

The first week of the internship was with the Administration department. He reused to acknowledge his suspicions when their supervisor talked them through how to make a proper resume and cover letter. There was an explanation given about why they needed it. If they were invited to apply for a permanent job at Kaiba Corp at the end of their internship, they still had to go through all the proper procedure. 

But Kaiba had complained about his resume being sub-par. He couldn’t really put it entirely down to coincidence. 

Joey didn’t see either of the Kaiba Brothers during the first week. The dragon in the lobby continued to try and intimidate him whenever he came in the front doors. He thought about leaving his deck at home but he couldn’t risk his Pops just _nabbing_ a few to sell. 

Week Two was in the IT department - he was just about to go upstairs to the IT floor when he finally came across Mokuba. 

He’d stepped into the lobby, and before he took three steps, the BEWD landed heavily in front of him and roared. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” he said impatiently. “You’re very intimidating, can you let me get on with my job now?” 

There was a quiet laugh behind him. Joey turned to see Mokuba coming in the doors after him. He took out his phone and typed something in - the BEWD flew away and circled the lobby instead. 

“Hi Joey,” the younger Kaiba brother greeted. “So other than scolding the holograms, what are you doing here?” 

Joey blinked. “I’m interning,” he replied. “Kaiba said he spoke to you about it.” 

“Seto is in New York until next Tuesday,” Mokuba said dubiously. “He didn’t mention you.” There was a thoughtful pause. “I think I remember him asking if there were any internship positions opening this quarter. Maybe that’s what he meant.” 

“Right…” Even weirder. “Thanks for getting your holographic attack dog off my tail. I’d better head up to the IT department.” 

“When you get off for lunch, come up to my office. We’ll catch up on everything that’s gone on recently.” 

It was an intimidating proposition, but he nodded and agreed before watching Mokuba, almost as tall as his brother now, stride off to the executive elevator. 

They were learning the procedures at the official Kaiba Corp Tech Support call centre. A lot of soft resets, flat batteries; everything else had to be escalated to Level B tech support which was only for actual call centre works. 

The break for lunch was Joey’s saviour. 

The regular elevator didn’t go up to the executive floor, but he took it as high as he can and then let himself through the fire stairs. The receptionist gave him an irritable glare. “May I **help** you?” 

“Uh. Mokuba told me to come up when I was on lunch.” 

She frowned, turning her back on him in the swivel chair to hold a conversation with someone on the other side of the line. Eventually, she turned back around and said, “down the hallway, third door on the left.” 

He grinned and thanked her before going off in the given direction. 

Mokuba was on the phone, but he waved him over to the seat on the other side of his desk. He seamlessly continued his conversation in what sounded like Cantonese. While he waited, Joey fiddled with all the little things on his side of the desktop. 

He picked up a photo frame, and discovered it to be a shot of the two Kaiba Brothers cutting the ribbon at the latest KaibaLand. 

“Queensland, Australia,” Mokuba said, hanging up the phone. “It’s the first one I oversaw on my own. Seto flew out for the ribbon cutting.” 

“Shouldn’t you have been in high school?” 

“I’d just graduated my Bachelor of Business Management,” he answered. “It was my first official project.” 

“Oh. Kudos.” There was an awkward pause. “So, uh, it’s lunch. I’m here.” 

“Right. So.” He leaned on the desk to stare down Joey. “What do you want with my brother?” 

Joey gaped at him for a long moment. Then he let out an easy laugh. “Geez. You two are as paranoid as each other.” He shook his head. “All I wanted was a job. I tried to call you to ask for it, but I got your brother’s cell. I don’t have ulterior motives - on either of you. You can both relax.” 

Mokuba sat back in his chair, apparently satisfied enough not to press for any more info. “I spoke to Celina Tsukino in Admin,” he replied instead, “she said you’re an enthusiastic and hardworking intern.” 

“Really? That’s nice. I thought she didn’t like me.” 

“Oh, she absolutely loathes you. But she knows a good worker when she sees one.” He sat back. “You’re very irritating, but even the people who don’t like you can see your worth.” 

Joey shifted uncomfortable. “Why do I get the feeling you’re not talking about the scary lady in charge of admin?” 

Mokuba just smiled and turned to pick up his phone. “Do you like sushi?” 

~*~ 

“I hope I never have to step foot in another IT department again,” Joey groaned. 

Mokuba looked up from his paperwork. “IT’s an integral part of Kaiba Corp’s customer service.” 

“I almost yelled at a twelve year old because he didn’t know how to plug his Duel Disk in to charge.” He held out a file. 

“Yeah, you’re probably too short tempered for tech support.” He opened the file. “You draw the short straw?” 

“What do you mean?” Joey asked. 

“Internship reports from each department always come directly to the executive offices. They usually draw straws to see who gets stuck with that particular daunting task.” 

“I had the lowest satisfaction rating, so I guess that’s it.” 

Mokuba flipped lazily through the report. “Hm. Yeah. I can see that.” He looked up. “You can go now Joey.” 

Awkward, he left the office. So much for being friends. 

~*~ 

Marketing was much more interesting than the IT department. The creative team he got assigned to were in the processes of pitching an idea for ad campaign of a new kind of duelling platform. Something online to play with duellists around the world. 

He was allowed to sit in on their brainstorming sessions. He sat in the meeting room afterwards, and he was meant to be tidying up the idea maps, brainstorming sheets and other rough doodles. But he wasn’t, not really. 

He stood up and went to the whiteboard to grab one of the markers. He circled the listing for ‘dueling from the comfort of your own home’ and then ‘duel wherever you go’. He pointed arrows between them and wrote a large ‘VS’ underneath. Then he hurried on with the rest of his job before they could catch him wasting time. 

They reconvened in the room after lunch. The project leader, Sakaki tilted his head at the whiteboard. “Rhodes, what do you mean by that?” 

The blonde glanced up at him. “Wasn’t me,” she answered smoothly. 

The older man peered at the whiteboard, and turned to the rest of his team questioningly. He got a series of shrugs or head shakes from each of them. “Come on, we don’t hoard ideas here. Who was it?” 

Joey awkwardly raised his hand. “Sorry…” 

Sakaki looked surprised. Cane in hand, he limped over to the table and sat down across from Joey. “So what was your idea, Wheeler?” 

He shifted uncomfortably. “Well… uh.” He squirmed under all the eyes in the room suddenly turning to him. “Why not both?” He picked up a pencil and a sheet of paper so he wouldn’t have to focus on their scrutiny. “Like. Versing each other. You got one guy, chilling out at home. Then you got another chick, rugged adventure type, out on a hike or something. Then they’re actually dueling each other.” Silence followed. “Uh. Sorry.” 

“No,” Sakaki interrupted. “That’s a good idea. Huffington, can you sketch up some ideas? Rhodes, MacField, work on some taglines.” He leaned over smiled at Joey. “No more hiding ideas, okay? Good work.” 

Joey felt a small glimmer of pride at the praise and nodded back at him. He drifted between Huffington and the other offices, looking in on what they were doing. It felt weird to have his idea being the one they were working on. He was just an intern. 

They pitched their ideas to the higher ups the next afternoon. Joey sat silently in the background “to observe”, while the others sat around the table. For the most part, they liked the idea, with a few tweaks. 

Sakaki took them all out to dinner - where he was the guest of honour for some reason. They toasted him, and while everyone was busy chattering about something else, Sakaki leaned over to talk to him. “If you haven’t thought about what you want to do for the second half of your internship, we’d love to have you on our team. If you keep up like this, I may even be able to convince them to hire you permanently.” 

“Wow,” Joey said quietly. It was a weird feeling. To actually be wanted for his hard work, instead of his friendship. “Thanks. It’s been pretty fun.” 

Sakaki gave him a warm, engaging smile and nodded. 

~*~ 

He only got a few days to really mix in with the creative team. After that, all the interns that could be spared were busy helping the marketing department with Friday’s Annual Kaiba Corp Charity Ball. 

“No matter how early we start planning, it’s always a rush the last two days to get things organised. You two, get over to the hotel and start arranging the furniture. The decorating crew will be there first thing tomorrow morning and they won’t have time for that sort of grunt work.” 

“And we are?” The comment came from a grumpy intern, Shay or something. 

Joey just laughed and followed him out. They managed to get the tables in order, under the bossy directions of the event co-ordinator. 

The next day, the whole flock of interns were busy putting together giftbags. In the last hour of work, the intern manager came over to their huddle, “that time of the week again, busy bees. Who’s going upstairs?” 

The other interns were suddenly concentrating very hard on the work in their hands. Joey snorted a laugh and raised a hand. “I’ll go. I’m not intimidated. I’ve known him since high school.” It was weird how they were all afraid of some teenager. 

“How brave,” she said impatiently, handing him the folder. “Go up, then you can go home and get ready for the ball. You’ll be manning the silent auction table with Princeton, so dress nice.” 

“Wait, I have to actually go to this thing?” He complained, taking up the folder. She gave him a look and walked off. “Oh man. Lame.” 

The other interns rolled their eyes. 

He headed over to the executive elevator and pressed the intercom. “It’s me. Got the weekly report from Marketing.” 

The elevator light clicked on. He stepped out at the top floor and nodded to the same, irritable secretary. “Mokuba in?” 

“He left early for the ball,” she answered. “Take a left, door at the end of the hallway.” 

Surprised, he went down the hallway and tapped on the door. The lock clicked, which he guessed was the only invitation to go in he was going to get. 

He didn’t know why he was surprised to see Kaiba there. The brunet was standing by the huge wall of windows, overlooking the city, dressed in a neat tuxedo, with a bowtie hanging around his neck. “Wheeler.” 

“Kaiba,” he answered. “I usually give these to Mokuba, but secretary says he’s gone for the night.” 

“From now on they’ll come to me,” the brunet responded. He took a seat at the desk and slid on a pair of wire-rimmed reading glasses. He held out a hand for the reports, and Joey hurried to hand it over. He silently flipped the front open and read through the summary. 

“So… can I, uh, go?” Joey asked. 

“No. I’ll speak to you in a moment.” 

Another long silence followed. Knowing it would take some time and not wanting to just stand around waiting for Kaiba to finish reading the reports, he walked past the desk to go look out the window. 

He didn’t get very far. Lying curled like a huge cat behind Kaiba’s desk was a BEWD, and as soon as he was in sight, it rose up and snarled protectively at him. 

He let out a short yell - surprise, not fear - and stumbled back. “Gees! What’s he doing in your office too?” 

Kaiba turned to glare at him. Hard. “There is more than one BEWD in the building, Wheeler. And _she_ always spends time in my office.” 

“She?” He echoed. 

“Yes, of course,” Kaiba snapped, his tone icy cold. “Why would you think otherwise?” 

Joey blinked. Kaiba was really mad about this? “...I’ve never thought about it.” He took a deep breath. “Okay. Is she going to let me pass? I don’t even have my deck on me today.” 

Kaiba turned back around, returning to the report. “Mokuba said something about your difficulties regarding the lobby.” He sounded smug. And amused. At least he wasn’t mad any more. 

He tried to walk past the dragon again, but she growled at him. He sighed and retreated back to stand in front of the desk again. 

Eventually, Kaiba did speak again. “You have a very favourable review from Sakaki and his team.” 

“Try not to sound so surprised.” 

Kaiba rolled his eyes and set down the report. “It is surprising. Your other reports have been mediocre - hard working but unsuited for the position. But this one… Sakaki likes you. He’s requested you for the second half of the internship, if you pick his team.” 

Joey blinked in surprised, and a pleased smile crossed his lips. “He has?” 

“Try not to sound so surprised.” 

He stared a moment, then a half-startled laugh escaped his mouth. “Was that a joke?” 

Kaiba’s lips twitched slightly towards a smirk. “I just had a new comedy patch installed in my latest software update.” 

He laughed. For real this time. 

The CEO gave a short, quiet chuckle, and closed the folder with the reports. “I’m sure the event co-ordinator has you working hard at the moment. You should go back to your work.” 

“Actually, she’s sending me home for the night,” Joey replied. “I’ve gotta man the auction table.” 

“I was politely excusing you,” Kaiba answered, getting to his feet. “I’d like you out of my office so I can continue preparing for the evening.” 

“Right, sorry.” He stood and paused. “Do you want me to do your bowtie again?” He asked hesitantly. Kaiba shot him a wary glare, but nodded. He crossed over - ignoring the warning growl from the lazing BEWD - and started arranging the fabric into proper order. “I don’t know why you don’t just go with a tie,” he teased. 

“Too much like work,” he replied. 

Joey tugged the bow into neat order and then smoothed his collar over the top of it. “There you go. All done.” He looked up to give Kaiba a grin, but found himself caught in an intense gaze. It lasted just a moment too long, then he stepped away. “I gotta go iron my shirt. I don’t have to wear a tie, do I?” 

“A dinner jacket should be fine,” Kaiba responded, turning away to look out the window again. “You are the event staff after all.” 

“Alright. But I’m using you as an excuse when I get yelled at.” 

“Deal.” 

~*~ 

The charity ball went well. There was a four-piece orchestra on the small stage, playing ambient classical music as the waitresses delivered miniscule portions of food too fancy for Joey to pronounce without sounding like an idiot. Kaiba made a short, obligatory speech to welcome everyone and thank them for coming, remind them of the silent auction and the donation tables. But it was Mokuba who made the moving, charismatic speech about Kaiba Corp’s Charity for Orphans and Underprivileged Youths that had the guests slowly milling towards the tables set up for donations once the food was done. 

Mokuba held court at one of the tables, amidst talk and laughter, while the elder brother waltzed one elegantly dressed woman after the other. The last of the silent bidding closed halfway through the evening - once he and Shay had collated the bids and found the winners, they handed the list over and were told to go home. Well, ‘given permission’ but that was the polite way of telling them to get out. 

Shooed out of the ballroom, Joey headed towards the nearest bathroom. His hands were covered in ink from one of the ball-point pens from the auction busting earlier, and he wanted to at least wash them off before he headed home. 

When he pushed open the bathroom door with his forearm, he paused, blinking in surprise at Kaiba. The CEO glanced up from the sink where he was washing his hands. 

“Oh. Hey!” Joey greeted, stepping up to the basin beside him and running the water. “The ball’s going great!” 

A small twist of annoyance curled at Kaiba’s lips. “Yes. Very successful.” Silently he watched the blond for a moment. “You’re finished for the evening?” 

“Yeah. Got given the eviction notice just now,” he answered, scrubbing at the ink on his fingers. 

“It’s a shame you won’t be able to linger to enjoy the evening for yourself.” 

Joey snorted. “It ain’t exactly my kinda scene.” 

A slight smile curled one side of Kaiba’s lips. “No. I don’t imagine it is.” He held out his hands, and a bathroom attendant began to towel them dry. Joey almost got the feeling it wasn’t Kaiba’s kinda scene either. Which was a weird thought that he shoved away quickly. 

“Well, enjoy the rest of your stuffy party, Kaiba. See you next week.” He rubbed his own hands on his dress pants. 

Kaiba looked him over, expressionless. “Have a good evening, Wheeler. One of us should.” He walked out, leaving Joey staring after him in confusion. 

~*~ 

His fourth week was in the Art Department. They tried to find something really useful for him to do, but in the end he mostly spent that week getting coffee and hunting down misplaced tablet pens or ferrying USB sticks back and forth with important character models for holograms on them. 

He did make one friend on the staff. The guy that half-belonged to the R &D department in charge of maintaining the holograms in the lobby. Together, along with some secretive input from Mokuba, they plotted a prank for the next week. 

Monday morning came around, and when he walked into the office building, instead of being greeted by an aggressive white dragon, he was immediately flanked by a pair of black, skeletal dragons with glowing red eyes. They seemed happy to see him, and he gave them an affectionate nudge as he headed towards the elevator. The people in the lobby seemed to be smiling at least - though he supposed it made a nice change. 

He’d expected some sort of scolding, or retaliation, from Kaiba later on in the day. He hadn’t expected, when he was settling into a big communal desk with the other interns in the video game design department, was Kaiba to storm in and slam both hands on the desktop in front of Joey. “You’re fired!” 

Mokuba bustled into the room, several seats behind. “Seto!” he scolded. “Joey, you’re not fired.” 

“It’s my company, I’ll decide if he’s fired or not!” 

“But _I’m_ the one in charge of the internship program and you have no authority to dismiss any of the interns,” he replied. He gave Joey an apologetic look and pushed his brother out into the hallway. 

Joey awkwardly went back to work, reading the briefing he and the other interns had been given. An hour or so later, the phone rang for him. 

“You’d better go home for the day, Joey,” Mokuba said quietly. “He’s super pissed about the dragons. They’re just holograms…” 

Joey found himself sighing. “No. They’re not.” He shook his head. 

“...no. They aren’t.” Mokuba agreed. He sighed again. “I’ll talk him down. Just head home, come in at your normal time tomorrow.” 

Even though he knew it was playing with fire, he didn’t go home. He took the elevator as high as it went, ducked into the fire stairs and showed up outside Kaiba’s office. The door was open a fraction, and he let himself in. Kaiba didn’t glance up as he closed the door behind him. 

“She’s all you have left of her,” he said. 

The CEO didn’t reply right away. He was facing the back window, and Joey could see the form of the white dragon curled up in his lap. When he did speak, it was in a voice that could refreeze the melting ice caps. “Don’t be ridiculous, Wheeler. I simply just don’t like being attacked the moment I walk into the building.” 

Joey snorted and rolled his eyes. “In that case, now you know how I feel and I’m not sorry.” 

The white dragon hologram growled at him, Kaiba turned abruptly in the seat and gave him a furious look. “You _aren’t sorry?_ ” He snarled. “You killed her again and replaced her with a cheap, rip-off, inferior imitation!” 

Joey just stayed silent and raised his eyebrows. 

Kaiba heaved a heavy sigh, slumping slightly in his chair. “You all destroyed her and I had to see _your_ useless dragon. It doesn’t even represent anything.” 

“I am sorry,” Joey answered softly. “I didn’t think you’d take it this hard,” he admitted. “It was meant to be a harmless prank.” 

One elegant, long-fingered hand rested on top of the dragon’s head in his lap. “Rationally, I understand that.” 

“Since when are feeling irrational though, am I right?” He replied, shrugging. 

“I _really_ hate the red eyes dragon,” Kaiba pointed out. 

He gave a tired smile. “I’ll try not to hold that against you.” He shifted awkwardly in his seat. “Can I not be fired, please? I know you can bully Mokuba into it if you tried. But I like this job.” 

Kaiba gave an irritated sigh. “Go away and I’ll think about it.” 

Satisfied he (probably) still had a job to come back to the next morning, he went home. 

~*~ 

The REBD were still there the next morning. 

They stuck around for the rest of the work week. 

Joey got a little pleasure from watching Kaiba walk into his own building and immediately being greeted by an aggressive dragon. Payback was pretty sweet. 

His week with the video game department went okay. Like the art department, there wasn’t any real work he could do. Like half the other interns, he ended up shut up in the Beta room with a fistful of demo disks and an unbearably statistically ‘ _on a scale of 1-10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest, how much did you enjoy X_ ’ without any opportunity to actually _say_ what he did or didn’t like about the game. 

Friday afternoon, Joey volunteered to go upstairs to hand over the weekly internship report. Mokuba was eating a late lunch with Seto, but they both waved him in. 

Mokuba looked through the reports, flipping through the pages until he found Joey’s. He looked over it, sipping from a paper cup that probably contained some kind of soda. “Hm,” he said thoughtfully. “They don’t like you too much in the VGD department,” he commented idly. 

“They don’t like you very much anywhere,” the elder brother commented over the neck of a sparkling mineral water flavoured with lime extract. Fancy jerk. 

Joey huffed. “The Marketing Department likes me,” he huffed. 

“That is correct,” Kaiba replied smoothly. “I suppose we can place you there for the rest of your internship. No one else you’ve worked under will have you.” 

Mokuba rolled his eyes at him. “Seto has a terrible turn of phrase, but it’s true, Joey. The Marketing department was the only one that has asked you to come back to the team.” He reached up to pet his arm consolingly. “But feel better. Hardly anyone gets _asked_ to join a team.” 

He perked up. It felt good to be asked for. “They’re the ones who are working on the online system aren’t they?” 

“Yes, Wheeler,” Kaiba deadpanned. “Sakaki and his team are practically begging for you. It’s embarrassing.” 

“You’re embarrassing,” Joey deadpanned at a mumble. 

Mokuba snorted loudly. “So you’re happy to join the Marketing Department?” 

He nodded. “I might like the R &D Department.” 

“Where’s your engineering degree, Wheeler?” Kaiba deadpanned. “You’re not qualified to work in R&D. Marketing will suit you well. You’re a duelist, so you understand the game - you have practical experience in the intended market, so you know what duellists want. And you just gave them our primary advertising campaign for the online network.” 

Joey blinked. “I think that was a compliment?” 

“Closest you’ll ever get from Seto,” Mokuba said. 

He laughed. “I think you’re alright.” 

~*~ 

R&D was fun, though he didn’t get to actually do much. He hung out with the team in charge of the new online duelling network. Unfortunately, they couldn’t figure out any way to make existing Duel Disks compatible with the network. The internal wiring was too basic, and none of the external attachments they had designed had been able to connect with the network with any stability. 

So they had to build a new system - or, as the Marketing Team and Joey had gently bullied them into - _two_ new models. A miniature version of the large duel arenas for the at-home version, and a new duel disk much like the old ones. The R &D Department had to have a meeting the next week to get Kaiba and Mokuba and the rest of the board’s consent to move forward with the project. 

But Joey was sure they’d get it. 

The interns had a small party on the Friday night, after work hours, celebrating the end of the first part of their internship. Everyone had their department they’d been invited in too, more than one in most cases. On the whole, the rest of the interns had been much more qualified for the position at Kaiba Corp. It made Joey intensely aware that he was only there because Kaiba had done him a favour. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. 

Joey sat in the corner with a guy named Yuusei, who was going into the R&D department to work on new tech. He had this idea for a weird combination of motorbike racing and duelling. Joey didn't really know how it would work - and he got weird flashbacks of that whole mess with DOMA - but he encouraged him to work on his idea. 

He talked eagerly about his work with the marketing department, how excited he was to see an idea he actually had, something people had actually liked, go all the way through to release. 

Yuusei patted his arm. His stoic expression didn’t reveal anything. 

~*~ 

“It’s done.” 

Joey looked up at Sakaki as he came into the room, brandishing a DVD. “The final cut of the ad?” 

It had been a gruelling three months. Hard work - taglines and meetings and sketches and storyboards and concepts and casting and a thousand things he couldn’t remember. The rest of the team gathered around the screen to watch it. 

Joey felt a bubbling pride in his stomach and chest as he watched the screen, unable to get a grin off his face. 

It started - a calm teenager looking like he’d stepped out of a Saturday morning cartoon, kneeling on the floor of an apartment, in front of one of the new duel arenas, in white and blue (to no one’s surprise). A quick cut, to a rugged twenty-something woman climbing a hiking trail, a black-and-red Duel Disk on her arm. Another quick cut - the guy again, calmly turning over a card, a hologram appearing on the arena in front of him. Quick cut: the woman, slamming a card down, and a black-and-red dragon appearing on the field (he hadn’t known about that one and a happy gasp of surprise came out of his lips). The duel continued, cutting between the two of them - and then at the last moment it pulled back and they could see that the two of them were actually duelling one another. 

_Kaiba Corp’s Online Dueling Network:_

_Serenity or Adventure_

_Choose your path_

He applauded, got a few odd laughs and then the others joined in. “That was amazing. We did that!” 

“Just in time, too,” Sakaki commented. “It’s the last day of your internship, Wheeler.” 

He felt a low thunk in his chest. “...oh. Should I clear out my desk?” 

Sakaki laughed quietly. “Well. Maybe not so fast. Joey, you’ve been a great part of our team. I’m writing up my official report for the second stage of your internship to send to Mokuba. Alexis, help Joey log on to the internal server and fill out a job application. You’ll be personally vetted by the CEO, he insists on interviewing every applicant from the internship program.” 

“So what you’re saying is,” Joey said tiredly, “Seto Kaiba is in charge of the decision whether or not I get an actual job here?” 

“That’s right,” Alexis said, pulling over one of the Kaiba Corp laptops. 

Joey laid his head on the desk. “It was nice knowing you all.” 

~*~ 

Nervous hands fiddled with his tie, straightening the fabric down his chest. Next to him sat a dozen other interns who had been invited to the interview process for a permanent position at the company. Yuusei was sitting on his left, Shun on his right, and then further down the line, Princeton who he’d worked the auction table with at the Kaiba Corp ball. 

His stomach twisted anxiously. He looked up as Kaiba’s P.A. stepped out of the CEO’s office. “Joseph Wheeler,” she called. 

He rose to his feet, straightened his tie, picked up his folder with the paperwork he’d been told to bring along. He took a deep breath and headed into the office. “Mr Kaiba,” he greeted, in his best confident voice. 

The brunet raised his eyebrows, sitting forward in his seat. Joey offered his hand forward to shake, and he took it silently, firmly. “Have a seat.” 

Joey sunk into the uncomfortable hard-backed chair on the other side of Kaiba’s desk. 

“So, you want to be part of my company.” 

He awkwardly cleared his throat, putting down the folder on the desk. “...yes. I would.” 

Kaiba sat back in his desk. “Why?” 

“ _Why_?” 

“Why do you want to work for this company?” He prompted. 

“...because…” He faltered. “Because…” 

“You do want to work for this company, don’t you, Wheeler?” Kaiba asked. “I remember that you took the internship as a sort of last-resort to fix your long-term unemployment. I assumed that since your applying for a permanent position meant that you wanted to continue on, instead of taking a letter of recommendation and moving on.” 

“No, I want the job!” Joey interrupted quickly. “I just… I don’t know what answer you want. I like my team, and making stuff up for the new tech. We saw the final ad for the online network today and it was amazing. I like walking into the office building every day and getting yelled at by your dragon. This place is great. I want to work here and I don’t want to say something stupid and mess up my opportunity and get pre-emptively fired.” 

“Take a breath, Wheeler.” Kaiba uncapped a pen lid. “If it’s any reassurance, that was a perfectly adequate answer.” He signed something in looping cursive. 

“Did you just write Kaifa?” 

“No.” Kaiba wrote a few things down and slid the sheet of paper across the table to Joey. “You’ll be put on a probationary period, three months. If, by chance, your good work on the network release was a fluke, we’ll let you go with an excellent recommendation.” 

“You’re giving me the job?” 

“Take this down to Celina in HR.” 

“Celina hates me. You’re really giving me this job?” 

“Yes, Wheeler. You’re getting a job. Under the condition that you continue the standard of success you demonstrated in your internship period.” He nudged the paper towards him. “I have a dozen other interviews to get through and I would like to get some actual work done this afternoon. You were one of the shoo-ins, you’re not supposed to have taken up this much time.” 

“You wanted to give me a job.” 

“Joey. You have a job as soon as you take this form to Celina in HR.” 

“But Celina hates me.” 

“Joey get out of my office.” 

He took up the sheet of paper. “You got it. Boss.” 

“Don’t call me that.” 

Joey grinned. “Sure thing.” He smirked. “...boss.” 

“Get out of my office.” 

He grinned. “See you Monday. 

“I take it back. You’re fired.” 

“Too late. I’m already taking this paperwork down to Celina in HR!” 

“She hates you.” 

Joey just grinned. “Thanks, Kaiba.” 

“Don’t mention it.” He smirked. “No really, don’t mention it. I have a reputation, you know.” 

“Your secret heart is safe with me.” 

Kaiba looked at him for a long moment. “Tell Yuusei Fudo to come in, would you?” 

He grinned and walked out. He had the job. At Kaiba Corp. 

Things were looking up. 

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like this ended in a weird place. Anyway, I hope you liked it! Thanks for reading.


End file.
